In the United States, and indeed in most foreign countries, the display of a license plate is required. Currently, the majority of the states (31 out of 50) require the display of a license plate on the back of the vehicle as well as the front of the vehicle. Typically, the license plate is mounted to the bumper of the car where it can be readily seen so that the vehicle and the registrant thereof can be identified.
In the United States, a license plate is typically a rectangular metallic plate (e.g. a steel plate) that includes a series of numbers and/or letters serving as the identification for the registrant of the vehicle. To mount the license plate, mounting holes are provided near the corners thereof. According to a conventional method, screws or the like are used to mount the license plate onto a surface of a bumper or some other surface of a vehicle. To be more specific, to mount a license plate, holes, that register with the mounting holes of the license plate, may be drilled into the body on which the license plate is to be mounted. For example, holes that register with the mounting holes of the license plate are drilled into a front or a back bumper of the vehicle. Consequently, the conventional mounting procedure requires modification (i.e. damaging) of the vehicle, which is an undesirable result.
To avoid modification of the vehicle, mounting apparatus using suction cups or the like have been proposed. However, such arrangements lack adequate coupling capability, and, therefore, are unreliable for the purpose of mounting a license plate to a surface on the outside of a car.
It is, therefore, desirable to have a license plate mounting that does not require the modification of the body to which it is mounted, and, does not suffer from the drawbacks of other known arrangements.